Twenty four lucky members will raft the full length of the canyon from Marble Canyon to South Cove, experiencing one of the most beautiful and majestic natural features on the planet.

Of course, as Eugenie Scott, NCSE's executive director, will inform the rafters, the whole Colorado plateau was laid down by the receding waters of Noah's Flood about 4,300 years ago, and the Grand Canyon itself was gouged catastrophically in a matter of days. Geologist Alan "Gish" Gishlick, Gustavus Adolphus College, will present the standard geological history of Grand Canyon to the rafters — and they can make up their own mind. NCSE's "Creation/Evolution Grand Canyon Raft Trip" is a wonderful way to learn about the creationism/evolution controversy in a fabulous natural setting.

The 2008 trip sold out early. Make reservations now for 2009!

NCSE will have an exhibit at the annual meeting of the Society for Developmental Biology in San Francisco this year! Stop by and visit with NCSE staff, see the latest books on evolution, and chuckle at the exclusive NCSE bumperstickers and t-shirts.

NCSE Executive Director Eugenie C. Scott will read from her book Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction, now in its second, expanded edition, at The Bone Room Presents, a new feature at the popular Berkeley fossil and science shop. There is sure to be a lively discussion about the creationism controversy and how it is currently playing out.

NCSE's Josh Rosenau organizes a session at Netroots Nation, a major gathering of online political activists and policymakers.

The session's abstract reads:

Science is increasingly vital to policymaking, but denial of basic aspects of science is increasingly well-organized, holding back science-based policies. Whether it's creationism attacking state and local education policy, global warming denial distracting attention from the need for effective solutions, or anti-vaccine activism undermining vital public health programs, the public's misunderstanding about science have dire consequences for society. Non-scientists and scientists alike are joining to defend science and to clear the ground for science-based policies. This panel of scientists and scientific policymakers will discuss ways that the general public can ensure that their government is informed by honest science.

Other panelists: Bryan Rehm, a plaintiff from the Dover intelligent design trial, a parent and teacher who is now president of the Dover Area School District's board; Susan Wood, the former director of Office of Women's Health at the FDA who resigned to protest the delayed approval of emergency contraception for women, now a professor at Georgetown University; Michael Stebbins, co-founder of Scientists and Engineers for America and currently Assistant Director for Biotechnology in the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy; moderator Mark Sumner, a widely published author, as well as a trained geologist, featured author in DailyKos's "Science Friday" feature under the pseudonym Devilstower.

When Dobzhansky said "nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution" he was saying that evolution tells us why things in biology are like they are, rather than some other way. The human skeleton is a good example of Dobzhansky's maxim: we are built like we are because humans are primates, mammals, vertebrates, and bilaterians. Teaching the skeleton from an evolutionary perspective "makes sense" to students, too, and gives them a framework that helps them to learn.

A talk in the UCMP/NCSE sponsored symposium for teachers,
"Think Evolution"

A presentation for the symposium, Good Science is Only Part of the Job: Communicating Science to the Public

Science is a product of human beings, which means it is affected by human institutions – including politics. The education system in the United States is highly politicized as a result of the nation’s history, and because the teaching of evolution is socially (if not scientifically) controversial, politics enters into whether and how evolution will be taught. Scientists working to improve the teaching of evolution need to keep in mind that science per se is necessary but not sufficient to succeed. One must also keep in mind the various stakeholders in the controversy, their needs and goals, and where compromise is and is not possible.

In the beginning... there was the effort to ban the teaching of evolution, and John T. Scopes is remembered as the teacher whose trial made the creationism/evolution controversy an American icon. But American antievolutionism has expanded and diversified, and it is accurate to describe its evolution as morphological change in response to restrictions of its legal environment. Antievolutionism changed from stressing the Bible as its source of authority to using the imprimatur of science – and we have seen the evolution of creation science and intelligent design. Whither antievolutionism in the future? We predict that creation science and intelligent design will change yet further – in some ways, going back to their roots.

Evolution sometimes is not taught at all at the pre-college level, and when it is taught, it is not always presented accurately. Often, misconceptions of evolution are taught, such as natural selection resulting in perfection of adaptation, or fish evolving into amphibians evolving into reptiles evolving into mammals. Scott argues that if evolution were better taught at the college level, high school teachers (and the general public) will better understand evolution, and do a better job of teaching it to their own students. Common misconceptions will be discussed, and an argument for clearly teaching the “big ideas” of evolution – especially to undergraduates – will be supported.

Sponsored by the
Biology Graduate Student Organization

After the failure of creation science and intelligent design to survive legal tests of their constitutionality, the creationist movement evolved new strategies. These call for teaching the “strengths and weaknesses of evolution” or the “critical analysis of evolution” which are creationism in disguise. In lieu of policies promoting the teaching of creation science or Intelligent Design, modern creationists try to change state science education standards or pass state legislation to promote these “softer” and less-obvious approaches. Such “Academic Freedom Act” legislation has popped up in several states already, and reflects the creationism du jour.

A presentation in the
Duane E. Jeffery Lecture Series in Evolution Education

From creationism to creation science to intelligent design to the present day “evidence against evolution” approach, antievolutionists have consistently changed their strategy in response to legal decisions. Evolution traditionally has been presented as weak or invalid science, and as incompatible with Christian faith. Currently, the teaching of antievolutionary ideas in science class is framed as having pedagogical value – yet there is little pedagogical value in teaching as science ideas that are not scientific. These culture wars are too frequently brought into the classroom, hampering the science education of the next generation of Americans.